"I am the god of hellfire! And I bring you ..." one of the greatest one-hit wonders of all time, and a true example of the species. I'd bet $100 you've never heard anything else Arthur Brown sang. There's a good reason for that. But he pulled off something marvelous with "Fire," a tune disturbingly simple (I'm convinced the bass line is simply one note throughout) and still rather shocking in its angry nihilism that somehow made it all the way to #2 in 1968. I remember watching this Beat Club performance on MTV's Closet Classics all those years ago; it's not ideal viewing at 10am for a 13-year-old. But it's one of the most sublime rock openings ever, and if Arthur couldn't match or top that, well, who could?ETA: I make no effort to apologize for Arthur's navel-gazing (ahem) third-eye chakra on his torso. Acid corrodes sometimes.
3 comments:
Wow. Now that's one I haven't heard in years.... Glancing at the comments on that video, have you heard of this?
http://www.chrisfinke.com/addons/youtube-comment-snob/
I want that tool to follow me around through all my blog reading and face-to-face activity. It would save me a great deal of hassle.
This song enjoys a cameo in "Hot Fuzz", the 2007 comedy from Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg, of "Shaun of the Dead" fame.
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